diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb9524b..35757d1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to `citrate-labs-sdk` are documented here. This project adhe
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.8.0] - 2026-11-08 — contract verification on CitrateScan
+
+Minor release: new API only, nothing removed or changed in an incompatible way. Publish once the
+CitrateScan verify API (v2) serves `verifysourcecode` / `checkverifystatus` at
+`DEFAULT_EXPLORER_URL`.
+
 ### Added
 
 - `citrate_sdk.verify`: `verify_contract` and `deploy_and_verify` verify Solidity source on
@@ -22,6 +28,13 @@ All notable changes to `citrate-labs-sdk` are documented here. This project adhe
   resubmissions wait at least `rate_limit_backoff`; transport-error messages never include the API
   key or the request's query string.
 
+### Fixed (review follow-up on #21)
+
+- `wait_for_verification`: the transient backoff exponent is clamped (`transient_backoff`) and
+  `poll_interval` is at least `MIN_POLL_INTERVAL` (5 ms), so `poll_interval=0` no longer retries in
+  a tight loop and `poll_interval=0.0` with `transient_backoff_max=0.0` can no longer raise
+  `OverflowError` after 1024 consecutive transient errors.
+
 ## [0.7.0] - 2026-10-27 — r1006 address book and a genesis guard
 
 Held for the r1006 public cutover: publish only after rpc.citrate.ai serves r1006.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f3edb52..3d36c49 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -177,7 +177,8 @@ Keywords:
 - `poll_interval` (3 s) and `timeout` (300 s) for the status polling. A transient error while
   polling (connection reset, request timeout, HTTP 5xx or 429) does not end the wait: the poll is
   retried with a backoff that doubles from `poll_interval` up to `transient_backoff_max` (30 s),
-  within `timeout`. A 4xx other than 429, or a `Fail` verdict, ends it.
+  within `timeout`. A 4xx other than 429, or a `Fail` verdict, ends it. `poll_interval` is at
+  least `MIN_POLL_INTERVAL` (5 ms), so 0 does not retry in a tight loop.
 - `rate_limit_retries` (3) and `rate_limit_backoff` (5 s) for `Max rate limit reached`. The
   explorer takes one submission per 5 s per IP, so while it has not indexed a just-deployed
   contract, `deploy_and_verify` resubmits at most every `max(poll_interval, rate_limit_backoff)`
diff --git a/citrate_sdk/__init__.py b/citrate_sdk/__init__.py
index c424ded..d2f6cb4 100644
--- a/citrate_sdk/__init__.py
+++ b/citrate_sdk/__init__.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
     wait_for_verification,
 )
 
-__version__ = "0.7.0"
+__version__ = "0.8.0"
 __author__ = "Citrate Team"
 
 __all__ = [
diff --git a/citrate_sdk/verify.py b/citrate_sdk/verify.py
index 5214ae7..dee9dfe 100644
--- a/citrate_sdk/verify.py
+++ b/citrate_sdk/verify.py
@@ -32,6 +32,13 @@
 from .errors import CitrateError
 
 DEFAULT_EXPLORER_URL = "https://explorer.citrate.ai/api"
+
+#: Shortest wait in seconds between two status polls, whatever ``poll_interval`` says (0 would
+#: retry in a tight loop).
+MIN_POLL_INTERVAL = 0.005
+
+#: The doubling stops here; 2**30 times any interval already exceeds every sensible cap.
+_MAX_BACKOFF_EXPONENT = 30
 #: Explorer limits (CitrateScan docs, "Limits").
 MAX_SOURCE_BYTES = 2 * 1024 * 1024
 MAX_SOURCE_FILES = 64
@@ -528,6 +535,19 @@ def check_verify_status(
     return VerifyStatus("failed", text)
 
 
+def transient_backoff(poll_interval: float, transient_errors: int, transient_backoff_max: float) -> float:
+    """The wait in seconds after the ``transient_errors``-th consecutive transient error.
+
+    ``poll_interval`` (at least :data:`MIN_POLL_INTERVAL`) doubled per error, capped at
+    ``transient_backoff_max`` (or the interval, if larger). The exponent is clamped, so the result
+    is finite for any error count and never raises ``OverflowError``.
+    """
+    base = max(float(poll_interval), MIN_POLL_INTERVAL)
+    exponent = min(max(transient_errors - 1, 0), _MAX_BACKOFF_EXPONENT)
+    delay: float = base * 2.0**exponent
+    return min(delay, max(float(transient_backoff_max), base))
+
+
 def wait_for_verification(
     guid: str,
     *,
@@ -544,8 +564,10 @@ def wait_for_verification(
 
     A transient :class:`ExplorerResponseError` (transport failure, HTTP 5xx or 429) does not end the
     wait: the poll is retried after a backoff that doubles from ``poll_interval`` up to
-    ``transient_backoff_max`` seconds, within ``timeout``. Any other error ends it.
+    ``transient_backoff_max`` seconds (see :func:`transient_backoff`), within ``timeout``. Any other
+    error ends it. ``poll_interval`` is at least :data:`MIN_POLL_INTERVAL`.
     """
+    poll_interval = max(float(poll_interval), MIN_POLL_INTERVAL)
     deadline = time.monotonic() + timeout
     transient_errors = 0
     while True:
@@ -563,7 +585,7 @@ def wait_for_verification(
             if not e.transient:
                 raise
             transient_errors += 1
-            delay = min(poll_interval * 2 ** (transient_errors - 1), max(transient_backoff_max, poll_interval))
+            delay = transient_backoff(poll_interval, transient_errors, transient_backoff_max)
             last = str(e)
         else:
             if s.state == "verified":
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 04d3c14..f9c6a0c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "citrate-labs-sdk"
-version = "0.7.0"
+version = "0.8.0"
 description = "Python SDK for the Citrate distributed AI network (chain 40204). The canonical TypeScript SDK is @citratelabs/sdk on npm; this Python client is opt-in and may lag it."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
diff --git a/tests/test_verify.py b/tests/test_verify.py
index 5485dd9..6af4288 100644
--- a/tests/test_verify.py
+++ b/tests/test_verify.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import math
 import socket
 import threading
 import time
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@
 from urllib.parse import parse_qsl, urlsplit
 
 import pytest
+import requests
 from eth_abi import encode
 
 import citrate_sdk
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@
 from citrate_sdk.errors import CitrateError
 from citrate_sdk.verify import (
     DEFAULT_EXPLORER_URL,
+    MIN_POLL_INTERVAL,
     BuildInfoError,
     ExplorerResponseError,
     VerificationFailedError,
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@
     load_build_info,
     parse_build_info,
     prepare_standard_json,
+    transient_backoff,
     verify_contract,
     wait_for_verification,
 )
@@ -422,6 +426,53 @@ def test_backoff_between_transient_errors_is_bounded(recorder: Any) -> None:
         assert want - 0.003 <= got < want + 0.2
 
 
+class _AlwaysResetSession(requests.Session):
+    """Test-only session: every GET fails like a connection reset, and is counted."""
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.calls = 0
+
+    def get(self, url: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
+        self.calls += 1
+        raise requests.ConnectionError("connection reset by peer")
+
+
+def test_zero_poll_interval_and_backoff_max_still_back_off() -> None:
+    # Both 0.0: the doubling stayed at 0 (a tight retry loop) and 0.0 * 2**1024 raised
+    # OverflowError after 1024 consecutive transient errors instead of timing out.
+    session = _AlwaysResetSession()
+    t0 = time.monotonic()
+    with pytest.raises(VerificationTimeoutError) as e:
+        wait_for_verification(GUID, explorer_url="https://explorer.example/api", session=session,
+                              poll_interval=0.0, transient_backoff_max=0.0, timeout=0.3)
+    assert "ConnectionError" in e.value.last_status
+    # MIN_POLL_INTERVAL (5 ms) between attempts: about 60 calls in 0.3 s, never thousands.
+    assert 2 <= session.calls <= 0.3 / MIN_POLL_INTERVAL + 5
+    assert time.monotonic() - t0 < 2.0
+
+
+def test_zero_poll_interval_backoff_doubles_to_the_cap() -> None:
+    session = _AlwaysResetSession()
+    with pytest.raises(VerificationTimeoutError):
+        wait_for_verification(GUID, explorer_url="https://explorer.example/api", session=session,
+                              poll_interval=0, transient_backoff_max=1.0, timeout=0.3)
+    # 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160 ms fits 0.3 s in about 7 calls.
+    assert 2 <= session.calls < 12
+
+
+def test_transient_backoff_is_finite_and_capped() -> None:
+    assert transient_backoff(0.02, 1, 0.05) == 0.02
+    assert transient_backoff(0.02, 2, 0.05) == 0.04
+    assert transient_backoff(0.02, 3, 0.05) == 0.05
+    for n in (1, 30, 1024, 1025, 5000, 10**18):
+        for interval in (0.0, 0.001, 3.0):
+            for cap in (0.0, 30.0):
+                d = transient_backoff(interval, n, cap)
+                assert math.isfinite(d)
+                assert MIN_POLL_INTERVAL <= d <= max(cap, interval, MIN_POLL_INTERVAL)
+
+
 def test_transport_failures_5xx_and_429_are_transient(recorder: Any) -> None:
     cases: list[tuple[tuple[int, str], int | None, bool]] = [
         ((503, "down"), 503, True),
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 470f67d..b076d06 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "citrate-labs-sdk"
-version = "0.7.0"
+version = "0.8.0"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "cryptography" },